Home

What's New

IT ALL BEGAN WITH YES: A conversation with Andraea Sartison of One Trunk Theatre

We asked local theatre artist and educator extraodinaire, Pauline Broderick, to have a chat with I Dream of Diesel director and co-creator, Andraea Sartison (pictured left). Pauline is a veteran drama educator who is delighted to get to ask questions of a new generation of experimental theatre artists. She is part of the design team working on the development of the new provincial arts curriculum. Currently she is privileged to be teaching a class at the University of Manitoba called Arts Infusion in the Digital Age where students collaboratively create performance.

PB: What was the catalyst for this theatrical experiment?

AS: I was really interested in collaborating with a musician. That is a lot of what One Trunk does. We try to make theatre with artists from other disciplines. We decided to work with music this time because it is such a big thing in Winnipeg and it’s a big thing for me. We sought out a musician who would be a collaborator. That is more difficult than you would think. A lot of people are busy or uninterested or didn’t quite get it but when I called Scott Nolan he said “YES! I’m in!” At the time I didn’t even know a lot about Scott but he came highly recommended as an awesome storyteller and a great musician. It was an unplanned match made in heaven.

PB: So it all started with the impulse to work with a musician?

AS: Yes. The reason that I’m after interdisciplinary collaboration is that theatre itself is interdisciplinary. In my own life and my own practise I have always done choir and music and painting and theatre. I think the draw to theatre was that I could combine all of those various interests into a living, story based art form. It feels like a very natural thing to do. In the past we have collaborated with hip hop artists and with dancers but we haven’t done music and we hadn’t done folk music which is such a Winnipeg thing. We started listening to Scott’s music and we got to know it really well then responded to it in a range of different ways. It was the feeling of the music that inspired us. His music is very poetic. We pulled characters and themes from the music and developed their stories. Even now, after the show has taken on its own life, you can find the connections to his music.

PB: Tell me about the beginning steps on the journey from YES to the refinements of a staged production.

AS: We started working on idea development in 2013, so we’ve been at it for a couple of years. We did a whole bunch of workshops. Our first workshop was an image based exploration. We listened to the music then went looking for artifacts that might fit the story. We built scenes with these objects. We identified characters and created sequences using the objects that illustrated the characters hopes and dreams. We performed them for each other and talked about what they made us think and feel.

PB: That was phase one. What did phase two look like?

AS: After that, we worked on physical based explorations of character and stories. We were mostly developing images and characters at that time. The Carol Shields Festival gave us a deadline to work toward. We had to tie a lot of loose ends together to perform. That’s when Claire Therese came on board. She was a really important part of the writing process. She started pushing us in the direction of a story that has A-Z. Our first attempt at A-Z was very visual. It had maybe 35 words. It was very physical. We had a full set and projections and music so it was very sensual and very evocative. From that Theatre Projects Manitoba invited us to be part of their season so this whole last year has been focused on the written script.

PB: What does that process involve?

That’s been Claire, Gwen and myself. The intention was to have a full script to work with. We did some good writing. It took the full year. It finally feels like we have a script. Everyone has had a hand in everyone else’s work. I know there is not one single scene that has not been altered by someone else.

PB: How has that sense of collective creation played out in this phase of production?

AS: Over the last few months we have started to take on more focused roles. Claire did the last draft and edits. Gwen has taken care of design elements and I have taken on the role of producer/director. We trust each other in those roles because no matter how great collective creation is, it doesn’t work to have three directors.

PB: What role does projection technology play in I Dream of Diesel?

AS: In our show the technology helps us paint a picture of “place”. We made a collective choice to make the set pieces very simple and nostalgic. When they are projected upon, another layer of experience is illuminated. We’re interested in using projection to tell the story; to be a character in the story; to transport an audience to a place. Technology is successful when it is fully integrated into the story. It’s the same with music. It has to be fully integrated.

PB: Tell me about the story?

AS: A lot of this piece for me has to do with where the dream intersects with reality. It has to do with the character’s dreams and when they have to let go and face reality or when the dream becomes reality. This play is a conversation between what is real and what is not. Dream and Reality is a big thing. There is also a bit of a haunting in the show; not as in a ghost story but more about a haunting of prairie lore and ancestry; an awareness of the soul of the prairie. It’s also about coffee. The opening invitation to the audience is about sharing a coffee with them. In a lot of ways it’s a prairie symbol of sharing stories. It’s a love story about our relationship to the land. I think the story really speaks to women our age. It about having a dream or an ideal of what your life is going to be and then arriving at the moment when you realize what your life is and being OK with that.

TPM Salon brings Radio Plays to Maw’s Bar and Eatery! Monday!

Join us at the TPM Salon on Monday February 23rd Doors open for drinks and food at 6:00pm. We go live at 7:00pm.

A sampling of Ross McMillan’s Winnipeg plays rescued from the CBC radio vault! Never before heard by a live audience…..or seen!

You will hear them first! These short plays require nimble performances and live Foley effects to create the world of Winnipeg at the turn of the century. You will learn about your City, you will be entertained, you will bear witness! The Tree Lady, Birth of the Arts, Broadway and Court Trials …….. Winnipeg like you have never heard it before.

What in tarnation are we doing? Come and find out. TPM pass holders get in free OR admission by donation at the door.

SCOTT NOLAN: the I Dream of Diesel muse

“Some have called him noteworthy, even acclaimed – but the smart money cites Nolan as a voice rarely heard this side of the century, a musician who shrugs away any five-dollar-cover singer-songwriter motifs before he unsnaps his guitar case. His are the songs sung for people with a past, sturdily backlit with unswerving musicianship and a disposition rooted in the best of rock n’ roll, roots and Americana.”

Acclaimed Winnipegger, Scott Nolan, is a musical force to be reckoned with. His work serves as muse for our upcoming presentation of One Trunk Theatre’s collective creation, I Dream of Diesel. We encourage you all to fall in love with Scott’s work as much as we have- it shouldn’t be hard! Check out Folk Fest Thursdays at the Good Will Social Club hosted by Mr. Nolan himself . Every second and fourth Thursday of the month, Scott will host an evening of eclectic and ever changing folk music from home and beyond. At Folk Fest Thursdays, Scott seeks to nurture a community that gave him his life’s work:

“My songwriting career began in earnest, after hours at the Blue Note Café and it depended greatly on the generosity of many Winnipeg musicians young and old. At Folk Fest Thursdays, we’ll see that tradition continue.

Next show is February 12. Click here for more info on Folk Fest Thursdays, and here for more info on Scott.